Improvement in insoles or formers for use in making boots and shoes



UNITED STATES PATENT EEICE.

JABEZ ELAM, OF ROCHESTER, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO RICHARD TRENAMAN, OF SAME PLAGE.

IMPROVEMENT IN INSOLES OR FORMERS FOR USE IN MAKING BOOTS AND SHOES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent N0. 162,463, dated April 27, 1875; application tiled April 8, 1875.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JABEZ ELAM, ot the city of Rochester, in the county ot' Monroe and State ot' New York, have invented a cert-ain new and uset'ul Improvement in Making Boot-s and Shoes, of which the following is a speciiication:

My invention consists in forming machinestitched boots and shoes, having a single sole only, by the employment ot' a formen77 to which the upper is lasted preparatory to stitching, and which is removed when the stitching is done.

The several figures in the drawings illnstrate the successive steps in making a boot or shoe in my improved manner.

Figure l is a plan ofthe last with the former attached thereto in condition for the lasting of the upper; Fig. 2, a vertical section of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a plan similar to Fig. l, but showing the upper lasted in place and ready for the reception of the sole. Fig. AItis a crosssection, showing the shoe lasted, the sole in place, and the whole ready to be sewed when the last has been removed. Fig. 5 is a crosssection of the iinished shoe.

The former B B is made of the same shape ofthe sole, but is narrower and shorter, so as to leave a space, a., outside, sufficient for the horn of the sewing-machine to pass all around without sewing through the former. It is iliade of two thicknesses, as shown, the outer one being ot' leather or other tirm substance, while the inner one is of rubber, or a substance that is elastic and soft.` C is the upper, and D the sole.

The operation is as follows: The former is iirst fitted to the last, as shown in Fig. l. The upper is then applied, being drawn over and tacked to the former in the same manner as it is tacked to the insole in common shoes. This is indicated in Fig. 3. The sole is then applied to the bottom, as shown in Fig. 4, and after the last is removed the shoe is run through the sewing-machine to stitch the sole in the ordinary manner. The horn of the sewing-machine passes outside the edges ot' the former in the space a, and therefore the stitching passes only through the sole and the lap ot' the upper that rests thereon. When the sewing is accomplished the former is drawn out ofthe shoe, which is easily done, since it is held only by the projecting points ot' the tacks, which were inserted inward from the laps of the upper. These tacks are rolled and headed down to prevent injury after the former is removed, and the shoe is then complete, as shown in Fig. 5, with the exception ot covering the interior ot' the sole with a suitable lining.

By making the former in two parts, B B', as before described, they are more readily drawn from the tacks in removing. The iirst thickness, also, by being hard, gives a strong hold to the tacks after passing through the upper, while the inner thickness, by being sott, prevents bending or twisting ot' the thin points ofthe tacks, and allows easy separation, as bet'ore described.

I do not claim, broadly, a shoe formed with a single sole; neither do I claim sewing outside the edge ot' an insole through the upper and sole of a single-soled shoe 5 neither do I claim forming a cavity in the whole bottom ot' the last to receive the former.

Vhat I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

I n the manufacture of' singIe-soled boots and shoes, the former or inner sole herein described, composed of one thickness ot' leather and one ot' rubber, to which the upper is lasted or secured, as herein shown and described.

In witness whereof I have hereunto signed my name in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

JABEZ ELAM.

Witnesses R. F. OsG-oon, ARCHIE BAINE. 

